Hot pursuit of councillors on

The letter asking for councillor nominations from the clubs, DSAs and other concerned parties have only just gone out but even before answers have been considered the politicking for the Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB) elections have begun.Sending the letter is one of the first steps for the election process to commence — the nominations are required by the BCB to be sent in by September 24 — but rumours have been doing the rounds that shopping for councillors has already begun.This time there has been a departure from tradition as the board provided specific nomination forms, whereas earlier each nominee would be named under the letterhead of the respective organisation, with a copy of the relevant resolution attached. This prompted former BCB president Saber Hossain Chowdhury, who is himself contesting the elections, to question whether the deviation from standard practice was designed to allow the board to tamper with the selection of councillors.BCB’s acting CEO Nizamuddin Chowdhury said: “We gave a forwarding letter and a form which they will send back to us with the councillor’s name and with the signature of the respective organisation president or convenor. The board felt the new system more appropriate considering the previous bad experience.”Gazi Tank owner Lutfur Rahman Badal was not troubled by the new format but he alleged that huge monetary transactions have been taking place to decide the nomination of councillors.“I got the letter from BCB and they basically provided a security paper and I think they made the change as there were instances in the past when the board received two names from one organisation. I’m not sure about the exact motives behind the change but it may be because of previous bitter experiences,” said Badal.“But the main point is that I didn’t receive the letter for Victoria Club although I am still the chairman of the governing body. I learnt that a lot of money is changing hands and one councillorship of Victoria has already sold for Tk 30 lakh. But you all know my efforts to bring the (Dhaka Premier League) championship to this club. I’m going to resign as chairman very soon and then I will explain the reason behind my decision,” he added.Whispers abound about the exchange of money. “It’s nothing new but this time the amount is too big. It’s really tough for a real organiser to get the nomination from an organisation if he is not rich enough,” said a club official on condition of anonymity.71 district and divisional councillors will elect 10 directors, 58 councillors from the clubs will elect 12 directors, one director will be elected by the 45 councillors from category three and the National Sports Council (NSC) will nominate three directors.